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Mancunians

Where Do We Start, Where Do I Begin?

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Mancunians

By: David Scott
Narrated by: David Scott
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About this listen

In the late 1990s, Manchester was a city in upheaval. The devastation of the IRA bomb and the closure of the infamous Haçienda nightclub were seismic events that rocked the city’s confidence at a time when identikit bands were flooding its clubs and bars, fuelled on anthemic guitar rock and swagger. Stereotypes were everywhere, while the spirit of Manchester was silently suffocating. Mancunians: Where do we start, where do I begin? is the story of those who didn’t fit the typecast: the musicians of colour, the football fans alienated by rampant commercialism, frustrated public figures, optimistic developers, and ambitious artists. Through a mixture of memoir and interviews with well-known Mancunians such as Guy Garvey, Tunde Babalola, Sylvia Tella, Badly Drawn Boy, and Stan Chow, David Scott portrays the city at the turn of the century in a way never seen before.

©2023 David Scott (P)2023 Manchester University Press Europe Great Britain Social Sciences
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As the title of my review suggests, David Scott looks beyond the obvious and doesn't just join a long list of pseudo-mancs bemoaning the shutting down of a club that wasn't all it was cracked up to be (and that they probably never went to anyway); those in the know like David Scott highlight that the real Manchester dance scene was to be found at Sankey's among other places.

But the book doesn't merely chronicle the club scene as has been done previously, it is a warts and all account of the city and all its faults too, updating the compelling accounts of the city from yesteryear by Dave Haslam (Manchester, England) and Peter Walsh (Gang War). In short it doesn't douse the city in sentimentality the way some other cities are portrayed.

Perhaps the biggest compliment I can give the book is the focus on its music and artists of true quality such as Elbow, I Am Kloot and Badly Drawn Boy oft eclipsed by Oasis and The Stone Roses - in this respect, it is akin to Fall drummer Paul Hanley's history of Manchester music "Leave The Capital".

As for narration, Scott's staccato Mancunian (and indeed one chapter focuses on. the linguistic variations of Greater Manchester) does not contrive to be anything. Like the book, it is the real deal.

This is NOT (another) Hacienda Bore-fest

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Manchester, an insight done differently here!

A beautiful mosaic of thoughts, memories and others opinions on the stunning city

Fantastic read *****

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